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9/11 workers sue for $1bn
17/07/2007 18:37 - (SA)
New York - Ailing ground zero workers are going to court to demand that the company overseeing a $1bn September 11 insurance fund uses it to pay for their health care.
Attorneys for the workers argued that federal officials meant for the money in the WTC Captive Insurance Co to be used as compensation for sick workers.
The workers already filed a class-action lawsuit claiming the toxic dust from the World Trade Centre site gave them serious, possibly fatal diseases.
The latest action, expected to be filed on Tuesday, seeks compensation from the company in charge of money appropriated by Congress to deal with September 11 health-related claims.
City officials have long said that the money must first be used to litigate claims before it goes to workers.
But attorneys filing the lawsuit in Manhattan's state Supreme Court argued that the money was created to reimburse ailing workers - not fight them in court.
'Captive insurance company'
"She hasn't paid a penny to one of my 10 000 people," David Worby, an attorney representing the workers, said of the company's CEO, Christine LaSala. "It was their mandate."
Congress directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2003 to appropriate up to $1bn "to establish a captive insurance company or other appropriate insurance mechanism for claims arising from debris removal, which may include claims made by city employees".
In the prepared claim, the attorneys argued that Congress and other federal officials never stated "that a captive insurance company be established solely to defend the city of New York and its contractors from all rescue, recovery and debris removal related claims, at all costs".
The company spent more than $75m legal fees and other expenses, the attorneys said.
Roy Winnick, a spokesperson for WTC Captive, said he could not comment on the claim until the lawsuit was filed.
Respiratory disease
More than 100 of the plaintiffs in Worby's lawsuit have died of respiratory diseases and cancers since the post-September 11 cleanup.
Last year, the largest study of ground zero workers determined about 70% suffer respiratory disease years after the cleanup.
Bloomberg and other city officials have estimated the cost of caring for the workers who are sick or who could become sick at $393m a year and urged the federal government to pay for their treatment and monitoring.
- AP
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